Recently, Facebook passed the 500 million user mark. This means that the potential audience that this now represents for your products is unmissable. If you want your business to succeed through social networking media then using Facebook Ads is a must for any company looking to grow in this ever competitive market. In this article I will walk you through the what's, the where's, the whys and the how's in this beginners guide to Facebook Ads.
What are Facebook Ads?
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few years you would have already signed up on Facebook and have an active profile, just like the other 500 million people across the world. No doubt, throughout your navigation of this web of social interaction, game playing and general networking you would have seen the small adverts that have popped up on the sides of your screen. These are Facebook Ads.
Why Use Facebook ads?
Facebook ads are an extremely efficient method of targeting a specific demographic or criteria of individual that your product may appeal to. Just by looking at the adverts that appear on your facebook page you will see that these are in some way or another relevant to your profile. This is the real strength of the advertisements through Facebook. The Facebook system picks up the information from the millions of profiles of individuals and places the adverts in their side bar. This means that only your chosen market see your product.
How do I create a Facebook Ad?
Facebook ads are relatively easy to create. You simply need to go The Advert Board in facebook and click on "Create an Advert". This leads you to the "design your own advert" page and where the real magic starts to happen.
The next few boxes ask you for some relatively simple information. Firstly, you are asked for the URL that you want to send your ‘clicking' customer to. This could be your website, a fan page, a group or the new application that you have just designed. You are then asked for a 25 character title and a 135 word body text describing the advert. This is where you sell the product so make it count!! I would recommend that you practice this to ensure that your sales line fits into the allocated space. Finally, you are asked for an image. Place an attractive image that will entice the viewer. Make it catchy so that it draws their attention and their, more importantly, their click.
How do I target people with Facebook Ads?
Luckily, this is relatively simple too and is the next step in the process. Again, you are asked for some information to identify the criteria of individual you are trying to target to see your advertisement. In brief, this is the customers Location, Age, Gender, Education, Interests, Marital status and Connections. Facebook then helpfully displays an estimate of the number of people this is going potentially go to. You simply input the details of the people you want to see your advertisements and click continue once you are happy.
Are Facebook Ads expensive?
There are two ways in which you can pay for facebook ads. The two options for the pricing structure are Pay for Impressions, at a cost per month, or Pay Per Clicks, at a cost per click. If you decide to opt for the pay for clicks option you will be charged the suggested bid every time your ad is clicked on by a viewer, if you decide to pay for impressions you will be charged the suggested bid per one thousand impressions until you reach your daily budget.
There is also a ‘suggested bid' to show you the current range in which other advertisers are bidding for your target demographic.
You can then change the information for the times at which you want your advert to run or the budget you want to spend on a daily basis.
Should I be using Facebook Ads?
It is clear that the value a company can gain from highly targeted, controlled and simple to set up and run marketing is priceless. This allows a company to pin point their product advertisements even in a marketplace of over 500 million people.
I hope this has been useful and has provided a foundation for you to start to use this unique marketing tool.
Who is Jon-Marc Spatcher?
After finishing his studies and travelling extensively, Jon-Marc
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